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The Boy Crisis: Aspirations for
the Present and Future
According
to a recent Junior Achievement survey, girls in grades 6-12 most often wish to
be doctors when they grow up, with teaching a close second. Not
supermodels or Hollywood stars, but doctors and teachers. Yet by a large
margin, boys most often aspire to be... professional athletes.
Is it any wonder that boys set
their sights on glory and celebrity status so often, rather than setting
meaningful goals that provide a realistic path to prosperity and the future well
being of their families? After all, the professional athlete role is one
of the few male roles that isn't regularly denigrated in the media.
Perhaps this is because it's one of the few forms of male excellence that isn't perceived
as a threat to the advancement of American womanhood.
We're teaching our girls to
strive, fostering their achievement in every career discipline, spending
increasing billions on female only scholarships and celebrating the female roles
that will serve them well. But attempts to do the same for boys are
regularly opposed by many in the education establishment. It's time for
that to change, and it's time for the media to start using it's cultural
influence more responsibly.

chart source data:
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_246.asp
2007 data:
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_258.asp?referrer=report
Boys ARE in crisis in America. The media has gone to great lengths to deny
this fact, largely parroting the talking points they've been handed by feminist
organizations such as the American Association of University Women, who's
spokespeople claim without hesitation that the chart above is NOT indicative of
a problem. To see just how serious the problem is, check out this
extensive data on how
boys are doing in comparison to girls. Here are some of the highlights.
• For every 100 girls in grades 10
to 12 that drop out of high school 121 boys drop out of high school.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html
• For every 100 girls ages 12 to 14 years enrolled below modal grade there are
129 boys enrolled below modal grade.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html
• For every 100 girls ages 15 to 17 years enrolled below modal grade there are
137 boys enrolled below modal grade.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html
• For every 100 tenth grade girls who read for pleasure one or more hours per
day 81 boys read for pleasure one or more hours per day.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_138.asp
• For every 100 girls diagnosed with a special education disability 217 boys are
diagnosed with a special education disability.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
• For every 100 girls diagnosed with a learning disability 276 boys are
diagnosed with a learning disability.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
Let's think long and hard about the kind of men we want our society's boys to
become. Let's think about how future generations of underachieving American men will influence
the institutions of marriage and the family, and broader society in general.
Let's evaluate the real costs of deconstructing our culture's concept of manhood
and male excellence in deference to the advancement of women.
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